The slowness of one section of the world about adopting the valuable ideas of another section of it is a curious thing and unaccountable.

This editor is a critic. He has pulled out his carving-knife and his tomahawk and is starting after a book which he is going to have for breakfast.

I was born modest; not all over, but in spots.

We love old travelers: we love to hear them prate, drivel and lie; we love them for their asinine vanity, their ability to bore, their luxuriant fertility of imagination, their startling, brilliant, overwhelming mendacity.

When I was 17, my father was so stupid, I didn't want to be seen with him in public. When I was 24, I was amazed at how much the old man had learned in just 7 years.

I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.

People are much more willing to lend you books than bookcases.